Wait time before dispensing/carbonation

[Damien Anderson]

Hi All,

Just completed my first brew Coopers Pale. I saw on the ikegger site kegging straight from the droid so did this and beer tastes a bit off. I left it at 15psi for 3 days and carbonation wasn't quite there so have left it for about a week now and carbonation is spot on but still doesn't taste quite right. Drinkable but not great. I'm kegging into the ikegger 10L kegs.

I've read on here people leaving kegs up to 8 weeks before carbonation. Is this a common practice? 

I'm a impatient man who drinks a lot of beers so am looking to at the fastest way I can drink delicious home brew. 

 

 

 

[Rob Courtney]

1 hour ago, Damien Anderson said:

Hi All,

Just completed my first brew Coopers Pale. I saw on the ikegger site kegging straight from the droid so did this and beer tastes a bit off. I left it at 15psi for 3 days and carbonation wasn't quite there so have left it for about a week now and carbonation is spot on but still doesn't taste quite right. Drinkable but not great. I'm kegging into the ikegger 10L kegs.

I've read on here people leaving kegs up to 8 weeks before carbonation. Is this a common practice? 

I'm a impatient man who drinks a lot of beers so am looking to at the fastest way I can drink delicious home brew. 

 

 

 

 

Hi Damian, welcome to the forum.

Greatest quandary of a home brewer right there.

Yes you can carbonate the beer and when it is ready tuck in but...

The flavour matures, it will probably taste better week 2, week 3 etc. One of the guys I used to talk to on here was keen to condition the kegs first by letting them sit for between 4-8 weeks to get the best out of them. When I first started home brewing, I bought a few cartons to drink whilst my brew was going until I got it to 8 weeks (my choice) and then home free to drink delicious brews.

Other guys may have some tips as I bottle mostly in regards to which drinks better earlier and which needs the most weeks

 

 

[Damien Anderson]

15 minutes ago, Rob Courtney said:

 

Hi Damian, welcome to the forum.

Greatest quandary of a home brewer right there.

Yes you can carbonate the beer and when it is ready tuck in but...

The flavour matures, it will probably taste better week 2, week 3 etc. One of the guys I used to talk to on here was keen to condition the kegs first by letting them sit for between 4-8 weeks to get the best out of them. When I first started home brewing, I bought a few cartons to drink whilst my brew was going until I got it to 8 weeks (my choice) and then home free to drink delicious brews.

Other guys may have some tips as I bottle mostly in regards to which drinks better earlier and which needs the most weeks

 

 

Thanks Rob, very helpful. I'll try and control myself. I have a sparkling ale ready to keg so I'll keg and keep for 2 weeks and try it to compare. Cheers.

[Rob Courtney]

21 minutes ago, Damien Anderson said:

Thanks Rob, very helpful. I'll try and control myself. I have a sparkling ale ready to keg so I'll keg and keep for 2 weeks and try it to compare. Cheers.

Yeah that's the deal with brewing, you find what you like.

I used to say to people bottling to have a bottle or two at 2 then 3, 4 etc so you get an idea of what you prefer

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

Hi @Damien Anderson  and to second what @Rob Courtney has said, welcome to the forum.

I have some experience with the Droid and kegs so happy to help and as many in this forum can attest, I definitely have little patience waiting to drink my beer.

First, I definitely found with the BrewPrints that you need to give them a minimum of 2 weeks post fermentation in the keg to settle and start maturing.

One method you might consider is using secondary fermentation in your iKegger's for carbonation and you'll find that this also helps with the maturing process.

To do this, keg as usual and then add primeing sugar into the keg. It will take roughly 2 weeks to fully carbonate and during that time, you'll find that the beer starts to mature and will be tasting better once that is done and will only improve thereafter.

I also wanted to ask whether or not you are using the Dry Hop Filter when kegging?
If not, I can definitely recommend this as it will help to remove particulate matter, i.e. bits of hop and yeast, from going into the keg. As many have done, you can also swap out the included filter for another with a finer mesh to capture even more material.

Goood luck and happy brewing

 

[Damien Anderson]

22 hours ago, Rob Courtney said:

 

Hi Damian, welcome to the forum.

Greatest quandary of a home brewer right there.

Yes you can carbonate the beer and when it is ready tuck in but...

The flavour matures, it will probably taste better week 2, week 3 etc. One of the guys I used to talk to on here was keen to condition the kegs first by letting them sit for between 4-8 weeks to get the best out of them. When I first started home brewing, I bought a few cartons to drink whilst my brew was going until I got it to 8 weeks (my choice) and then home free to drink delicious brews.

Other guys may have some tips as I bottle mostly in regards to which drinks better earlier and which needs the most weeks

 

 

 

Thanks Rob, very helpful. I'll try and control myself. I have a sparkling ale ready to keg so I'll keg and keep for 2 weeks and try it to compare. Cheers.

[Damien Anderson]

11 hours ago, Wazza_wantsbeer said:

Hi @Damien Anderson  and to second what @Rob Courtney has said, welcome to the forum.

I have some experience with the Droid and kegs so happy to help and as many in this forum can attest, I definitely have little patience waiting to drink my beer.

First, I definitely found with the BrewPrints that you need to give them a minimum of 2 weeks post fermentation in the keg to settle and start maturing.

One method you might consider is using secondary fermentation in your iKegger's for carbonation and you'll find that this also helps with the maturing process.

To do this, keg as usual and then add primeing sugar into the keg. It will take roughly 2 weeks to fully carbonate and during that time, you'll find that the beer starts to mature and will be tasting better once that is done and will only improve thereafter.

I also wanted to ask whether or not you are using the Dry Hop Filter when kegging?
If not, I can definitely recommend this as it will help to remove particulate matter, i.e. bits of hop and yeast, from going into the keg. As many have done, you can also swap out the included filter for another with a finer mesh to capture even more material.

Goood luck and happy brewing

Thanks Wazza, 

I have bought the Dry Hop Filter but haven't brewed any Dry hop brews. I plan to do the Coopers XPA next and will use the filter.

From what I'm hearing is longer the better. Are you just storing kegs at room temp or in the fridge? Also I have my beer storing now in the droid, is it advisable to move to kegging? I kegged my Pale Ale at storage temp so I could carbonate straight away. 

11 hours ago, Wazza_wantsbeer said:

 

 

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

12 hours ago, Damien Anderson said:

 

I think I'm missing something from this post...   🤣

[Damien Anderson]

16 hours ago, Wazza_wantsbeer said:

I think I'm missing something from this post...   🤣

Sorry @Wazza_wantsbeer still learning to drive this thing. Are you storing kegs at room temp or in the fridge? I am in central qld and ambient temp is still mid to high 20's where I ideally would like to store kegs. 

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

On 10/05/2024 at 12:55 AM, Damien Anderson said:

Sorry @Wazza_wantsbeer still learning to drive this thing. Are you storing kegs at room temp or in the fridge? I am in central qld and ambient temp is still mid to high 20's where I ideally would like to store kegs. 

Not a problem.

If doing secondary fermentation of the kegs with sugar, I will leave at room temperature and try to find the area of the house where the temperature is the most consistent without large variations in temperatures.

If that's not possible, I will empty my kegerator and use that but given it's 2 weeks then without being able to pour a beer, that is a last resort.

To be honest, most of the time now, I go straight from kegging into the kegerator on CO2 @12 psi and it's usually drinking well after 4-5 days depending on style.